A pastry chef is a type of chef who works specifically with pastries and other sweet bakery products. Pastry chefs usually work on cakes, sweets and sweet rolls, and are commonly employed by pastry shops where they work on the food being sold and served. Pastry chefs can also be hired by renowned restaurants where they work specifically on that restaurant’s pastry selection and may sometimes be tasked with preparing special cakes for specific occasions and events.
There are various training courses related to the job of a pastry chef, and most of them offer quite a comprehensive set of skills required for practicing the job properly. However, the majority of a pastry chef’s assets lie in their own skills and their knowledge of cooking and preparing a variety of pastry products. Pastry chefs may have to work for several years in various restaurants in order to attain employment at more renowned restaurants and kitchens in general – and the job can be somewhat very demanding in some cases.
A pastry chef can earn between $39,000 – $65,000 a year, depending on where they work at – some restaurants can pay their pastry chefs substantial sums of money, in some cases even exceeding the annual average for the sector; in some other cases, the job is seen as an underpaid one and not really worth its money, as some employers even go below $35,000 for the annual salaries of their pastry chefs. It all depends on the choice of location which can be a crucial factor in securing good employment as a pastry chef.